Rodolfo Assinger
LL.B.
Associate Lawyer
Rodolfo Assinger is a litigator at ATAC LAW whose civil practice moves fluently across construction, employment, commercial, property, estate, and administrative disputes. He is retained by individuals and business owners, by employers and contractors, by property owners and beneficiaries, and by others whose affairs draw contractual, financial, and personal interests together. At the outset he fixes the factual foundation, isolates the issues that will govern the proceeding, and asks what outcome would best serve the client.
He acts in construction payment and deficiency claims, in contractual and commercial lease disputes, in wrongful dismissal and shareholder disagreements, in debt recovery, defamation, and contested estates, and in strata and residential tenancy matters. His construction files have taken in builders liens under the Builders Lien Act, disputes under CCDC contracts, claims for extras and project delay, and proceedings over mortgages and interests in property. He carries a matter from preliminary advice and demand correspondence through pleadings and affidavits, document production, settlement negotiation and mediation, interlocutory applications, and the preparation that trial and hearing demand.
Rodolfo has contributed to proceedings at every level of the British Columbia courts, the Provincial Court, the Supreme Court, and the Court of Appeal. His appellate work has included reviewing appeal records and factums, preparing costs materials, and resolving the procedural questions that arise once an appeal is abandoned or concluded. He also advises in matters before administrative bodies and tribunals, in professional regulatory proceedings, immigration matters, and applications for judicial review. In estate work he acts in probate and administration disputes and in competing claims to estate property.
He is at his most assured in matters whose outcome depends on reconstructing events from contracts, correspondence, financial records, and the recollection of witnesses. He follows how the parties' obligations took shape, where the relationship faltered, and which facts can be proven before a court or decision-maker. From that reading he offers clients a candid assessment of risk, while keeping the paths of negotiation, settlement, and litigation each within reach. Across matters as different as a construction claim, an employment dispute, a threatened interest in property, or a contested estate, he works to bring clarity and order to disputes that first appear fragmented or uncertain.
- Commercial Real Estate and Disputes
- Construction Law
- Corporate & Commercial Law
- Criminal Defence
- Employment Litigation
- Estate Litigation Law
- Expropriation Law
- Indigenous Economic Development
- Infrastructure Law
- Intellectual Property Law
- Litigation and Dispute Resolution
- Personal Injury
- White-collar Crime Law
- Member, Law Society of British Columbia
- Bachelor of Law, Universidade de Direito de Curitiba (UNICURITIBA), Brazil – 2015
- Completed further legal education at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia (UBC) – 2021
- Accredited to enter the law society bar admission program by the National Committee of Accreditation (NCA) – 2021
- Acting for a client before the IRCC in a sponsorship application for permanent residence under the Family Class.
- Acting for a professional engineer in a regulatory dispute with Engineers and Geoscientists BC that proceeded to a full discipline hearing
- Acting for a creditor in a consumer proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. B-3);
- Acting for a shareholder in a corporate dispute in a commercial arbitration
- Acting for a BC First Nation on multiple major construction and infrastructure projects in the areas of contract drafting and dispute resolution
- Successfully advocated for small and medium-sized contractors to secure payment for their work by effectively utilizing and leveraging the Builders Lien Act, ensuring compensation through liens and judgments.
- Assisted in removing a lien from a property title and countersuing a contractor who had significantly damaged a home and then initiated a lawsuit. Help was also provided to secure insurance coverage for legal fees before the case was transferred to another lawyer, to the client’s disappointment.
- Helped several small and medium-sized contractors secure payment for their work by filing liens on title and obtaining judgments against the opposing parties, using tools under the Builders Lien Act to ensure full or substantial payment.
- Acting for homeowners in a dispute with their contractor on a large luxury home development project
- Acting for a number of contractors in actions to enforce builders liens against general contractors and owners
- Succeeded in obtaining a judgment of more than $150,000.00 against a party who committed fraud, through a court application and without trial, in less than a year despite attempts by the opposing party to delay the lawsuit.
- Succeeded in negotiating a settlement to recover the full value of investments made in a property that was almost lost to a family member who had previously been put on the title.
- Represented in a litigation case involving an altercation, leading to a settlement through mediation, despite initial resistance from opposing parties. The successful mediation ended with the parties inviting each other for a drink, improving client satisfaction significantly.
- Acting for multiple clients in relation to disputes over the Vancouver Empty Homes Tax bylaw
- Acting for an entrepreneur before the Supreme Court of British Columbia in a complex civil litigation involving multiple parties, shareholder disputes, and commercial lease disputes;
- Successfully represented a client defrauded in an oral agreement, securing a judgment exceeding $150,000 without a trial, through effective court applications, resolving the matter in under a year.
- Successfully mediated a long-standing, emotionally charged dispute involving a physical altercation, resulting in not only a settlement but also reconciliation between the parties, evidenced by mutual cordiality post-mediation.
- Acting as second chair in a six-week construction litigation matter involving claims for unpaid work, delay claims, construction defects, builder’s liens, and lost profits, where the Rodolfo acted for a sub-trade making a claim against a developer of a large condo project in Vancouver, where Rodolfo successfully obtained judgment for his client for unpaid work and delay claims
- Successfully negotiated recovery of investments for a client threatened with the loss of her home due to a past agreement placing the property in a family member’s name, thus preserving her financial interests in the property.
- Successfully assisted a homeowner in removing a lien and countersuing a contractor who inadequately altered her property, and facilitated the transfer of her legal representation to insurance-appointed counsel while securing coverage for her legal expenses.
